It is evident that the dominant worldview in resource and environmental management of ‘systems in equilibrium’ is incompatible with observations of the complex dynamics of social and ecological systems. In the effort towards sustainability, it has become increasingly important to develop new conceptual frames to understand these dynamics. The framework underlying the book is complex systems theory, with the explicit objective of examining ways of building social–ecological resilience to enhance the capacity to deal with complexity and change. In particular, we look for effective ways of analyzing the phenomenon of change and how to respond to change in a manner that does not lead to loss of future options. The 14 chapters of the volume investigate how human societies deal with change in coupled social–ecological systems and build capacity to adapt to change. The term navigating in the title of the book is meant to capture this dynamic process.

It is an edited volume, but it is different from most edited volumes. We have used a common framework for the syntheses and the case-study analyses of a diversity of resource management systems. The chapters, written by scholars from several disciplines, have been developed on the basis of the common framework. The Introduction presents the framework and direction of the volume followed by four major sections: perspectives on resilience; building resilience in local management systems; social–ecological learning and adaptation; and cross-scale institutional response to change.